– Photo: Ipolito Nurez celebrates outside City Hall after California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill Bill AB60, which allows immigrants in the country illegally to obtain driver licenses. (AP)

Only in California. California State Senator Kevin de León has introduced a bill, SB-54 or the “California Trust Act” (because if you disagree with this legislation then you’re obviously just an immoral, racist asshole), that explicitly prohibits “state and local law enforcement agencies” from investigating, detaining, detecting, reporting or arresting people for “immigration enforcement purposes.” Moreover, the bill would force “public schools, hospitals, and courthouses” to establish “safe zones” that “limit immigration enforcement on their premises.”

This bill would, among other things, prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies and school police and security departments from using resources to investigate, detain, detect, report, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes, or to investigate, enforce, or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal program requiring registration of individuals on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or national or ethnic origin, as specified. The bill would require state agencies to review their confidentiality policies and identify any changes necessary to ensure that information collected from individuals is limited to that necessary to perform agency duties and is not used or disclosed for any other purpose, as specified. The bill would require public schools, hospitals, and courthouses to establish and make public policies that limit immigration enforcement on their premises and would require the Attorney General, in consultation with appropriate stakeholders, to publish model policies for use by those entities for those purposes.

In support of the legislation, De Leon notes that “immigrants are valuable and essential members of the California community” and that attempts to enforce immigration laws simply create fear of the police among “immigrant community members” who then shy away from “approaching police when they are victims of, and witnesses to, crimes.” Yes, by that logic we should probably stop enforcing all laws because we suspect that pretty much everyone that has broken a state or federal law is somewhat reluctant to approach the police…which is totally unfair!

885.2. The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Immigrants are valuable and essential members of the California community. Almost one in three Californians is foreign born and one in two children in California has at least one immigrant parent.

(b) A relationship of trust between California’s immigrant community and state and local law enforcement agencies is central to the public safety of the people of California.

(c) This trust is threatened when local law enforcement agencies are entangled with federal immigration enforcement, with the result that immigrant community members fear approaching police when they are victims of, and witnesses to, crimes.

(d) This act seeks to protect the safety and constitutional rights of the people of California, and to direct the state’s limited resources to matters of greatest concern to state and local governments.

Meanwhile, per The Hill, De Leon has vowed that California will be the “wall of justice” for illegal immigrants “should the incoming administration adopt an inhumane and over-reaching mass-deportation policy.”

The bill “will make it clear California public schools, hospitals, and courthouses will not be used by the Trump regime to deport our families, friends, neighbors, classmates and co-workers,” said Assemblyman Marc Levine (D), the bill’s chief sponsor in the lower chamber.

The measure does not prohibit law enforcement agencies from transferring violent offenders into federal custody to be deported. But it does prohibit those agencies from acting as federal immigration officers and cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in order to deport other undocumented immigrants.

“To the millions of undocumented residents pursuing and contributing to the California Dream, the state of California will be your wall of justice should the incoming administration adopt an inhumane and over-reaching mass-deportation policy,” de León said in a statement.

Of course, all of this begs the question of why, if the State of California is allowed to pick and choose which federal laws it decides to enforce, would municipalities and local police departments have to enforce all state laws…perhaps we should take it one step further and just let each city police department pick which laws they want to enforce.

An act to repeal Section 11369 of the Health and Safety Code, and to add Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 885) to Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, relating to law enforcement.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 54, as introduced, De León. Law enforcement: sharing data.

Existing law provides that when there is reason to believe that a person arrested for a violation of specified controlled substance provisions may not be a citizen of the United States, the arresting agency shall notify the appropriate agency of the United States having charge of deportation matters.

This bill would repeal those provisions.

Existing law provides that whenever an individual who is a victim of or witness to a hate crime, or who otherwise can give evidence in a hate crime investigation, is not charged with or convicted of committing any crime under state law, a peace officer may not detain the individual exclusively for any actual or suspected immigration violation or report or turn the individual over to federal immigration authorities.

This bill would, among other things, prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies and school police and security departments from using resources to investigate, detain, detect, report, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes, or to investigate, enforce, or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal program requiring registration of individuals on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or national or ethnic origin, as specified. The bill would require state agencies to review their confidentiality policies and identify any changes necessary to ensure that information collected from individuals is limited to that necessary to perform agency duties and is not used or disclosed for any other purpose, as specified. The bill would require public schools, hospitals, and courthouses to establish and make public policies that limit immigration enforcement on their premises and would require the Attorney General, in consultation with appropriate stakeholders, to publish model policies for use by those entities for those purposes.

The bill would state findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to these provisions.

By imposing additional duties on public schools, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Digest Key

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 11369 of the Health and Safety Code is repealed.

11369.When there is reason to believe that any person arrested for a violation of Section 11350, 11351, 11351.5, 11352, 11353, 11355, 11357, 11359, 11360, 11361, 11363, 11366, 11368 or 11550, may not be a citizen of the United States, the arresting agency shall notify the appropriate agency of the United States having charge of deportation matters.

SEC. 2.

Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 885) is added to Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, to read:

CHAPTER 8. Cooperation With Federal Immigration Authorities

885.

This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Values Act.

885.2.

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Immigrants are valuable and essential members of the California community. Almost one in three Californians is foreign born and one in two children in California has at least one immigrant parent.

(b) A relationship of trust between California’s immigrant community and state and local law enforcement agencies is central to the public safety of the people of California.

(c) This trust is threatened when local law enforcement agencies are entangled with federal immigration enforcement, with the result that immigrant community members fear approaching police when they are victims of, and witnesses to, crimes.

(d) This act seeks to protect the safety and constitutional rights of the people of California, and to direct the state’s limited resources to matters of greatest concern to state and local governments.

885.4.

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:

(a) “Civil immigration warrant” means any warrant for a violation of federal civil immigration law, and includes civil immigration warrants entered in the National Crime Information Center database.

(b) “Federal immigration authority” means any officer, employee, or person otherwise paid by or acting as an agent of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement or any division thereof, or any other officer, employee, or person otherwise paid by or acting as an agent of the United States Department of Homeland Security who is charged with immigration enforcement.

(c) “Hold request,” “notification request,” and “local law enforcement agency” have the same meaning as provided in Section 7283 of the Government Code.

(d) “Immigration enforcement” includes any and all efforts to investigate, enforce, or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal civil immigration law, and also includes any and all efforts to investigate, enforce, or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal criminal immigration law that penalizes a person’s presence in, entry, or reentry to, or employment in, the United States, including, but not limited to, violations of Section 1253, 1324c, 1325, or 1326 of Title 8 of the United States Code.

(e) “Judicial warrant” means a warrant based on probable cause and issued by a federal judge or a federal magistrate judge that authorizes federal immigration authorities to take into custody the person who is the subject of the warrant.

(f) “School police and security departments” includes police and security departments of the California State University, California Community Colleges, schools, and school districts.

(g) “State agency” has the same meaning as provided in Section 11000 of the Government Code.

885.6.

(a) State and local law enforcement agencies and school police and security departments shall not do any of the following:

(1) Use agency or department moneys, facilities, property, equipment, or personnel to investigate, detain, detect, report, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes, including, but not limited to, any of the following:

(B) Responding to requests for nonpublicly available personal information about an individual, including, but not limited to, information about the person’s release date, home address, or work address for immigration enforcement purposes.

(E) Performing the functions of an immigration officer, whether pursuant to Section 1357(g) of Title 8 of the United States Code or any other law, regulation, or policy, whether formal or informal.

(2) Use agency or department moneys, facilities, property, equipment, or personnel to investigate, enforce, or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal program requiring registration of individuals on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or national or ethnic origin.

(3) Make agency or department databases available to anyone or any entity for the purpose of immigration enforcement or investigation or enforcement of any federal program requiring registration of individuals on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, immigration status, or national or ethnic origin. Any agreements in existence on the date that this chapter becomes operative that make any agency or department database available in conflict with the terms of this paragraph are terminated on that date.

(4) Place peace officers under the supervision of federal agencies or employ peace officers deputized as special federal officers or special federal deputies except to the extent those peace officers remain subject to California law governing conduct of peace officers and the policies of the employing agency.

(b) Nothing in this section shall prevent the department or any state or local law enforcement agency, including school police or security departments, from responding to a request from federal immigration authorities for information about a specific person’s previous criminal arrests or convictions where otherwise permitted by state law or from responding to a lawful subpoena.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law, in no event shall state or local law enforcement agencies or school police or security departments transfer an individual to federal immigration authorities for purposes of immigration enforcement or detain an individual at the request of federal immigration authorities for purposes of immigration enforcement absent a judicial warrant. This subdivision does not limit the scope of subdivision (a).

885.8.

(a) In order to ensure that eligible individuals are not deterred from seeking services or engaging with state agencies, all state agencies shall review their confidentiality policies and identify any changes necessary to ensure that information collected from individuals is limited to that necessary to perform agency duties and is not used or disclosed for any other purpose. Any necessary changes to those policies shall be made as expeditiously as possible, consistent with agency or department procedures.

(b) The Attorney General, in consultation with the appropriate stakeholders, shall publish model policies for public schools, hospitals, and courthouses to ensure that all public schools, hospitals, and courthouses remain safe and accessible to all California residents, regardless of immigration status. All public schools, hospitals, and courthouses shall establish and make public policies that limit immigration enforcement on their premises to the fullest extent possible consistent with federal and state law.

885.10.

Nothing in this chapter prohibits any state or local agency from sending to, or receiving from, any local, state, or federal agency, information regarding an individual’s citizenship or immigration status. “Information regarding an individual’s citizenship or immigration status,” for purposes of this section, means a statement of the individual’s country of citizenship or a statement of the individual’s immigration status, respectively.

885.12.

The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

SEC. 3.

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing federal law authorizes any authorized immigration officer to issue an immigration detainer that serves to advise another law enforcement agency that the federal department seeks custody of an alien presently in the custody of that agency, for the purpose of arresting and removing the alien. Existing federal law provides that the detainer is a request that the agency advise the department, prior to release of the alien, in order for the department to arrange to assume custody in situations when gaining immediate physical custody is either impracticable or impossible.

This bill would prohibit a law enforcement official, as defined, from detaining an individual on the basis of a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold after that individual becomes eligible for release from custody, unless, at the time that the individual becomes eligible for release from custody, certain conditions are met, including, among other things, that the individual has been convicted of specified crimes.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Secure Communities program shifts the burden of federal civil immigration enforcement onto local law enforcement. To operate the Secure Communities program, ICE relies on voluntary requests, known as ICE holds or detainers, to local law enforcement to hold individuals in local jails for additional time beyond when they would be eligible for release in a criminal matter.

(b) State and local law enforcement agencies are not reimbursed by the federal government for the full cost of responding to a detainer, which can include, but is not limited to, extended detention time and the administrative costs of tracking and responding to detainers.

(c) Unlike criminal detainers, which are supported by a warrant and require probable cause, there is no requirement for a warrant and no established standard of proof, such as reasonable suspicion or probable cause, for issuing an ICE detainer request. Immigration detainers have erroneously been placed on United States citizens, as well as immigrants who are not deportable.

(d) The Secure Communities program and immigration detainers harm community policing efforts because immigrant residents who are victims of or witnesses to crime, including domestic violence, are less likely to report crime or cooperate with law enforcement when any contact with law enforcement could result in deportation. The program can result in a person being held and transferred into immigration detention without regard to whether the arrest is the result of a mistake, or merely a routine practice of questioning individuals involved in a dispute without pressing charges. Victims or witnesses to crimes may otherwise have recourse to lawful status (such as U-visas or T-visas) that detention resulting from the Secure Communities program obstructs.

(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that this act shall not be construed as providing, expanding, or ratifying the legal authority for any state or local law enforcement agency to detain an individual on an immigration hold.

SEC. 2.

Chapter 17.1 (commencing with Section 7282) is added to Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, to read:

CHAPTER 17.1. Standards for Responding to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Holds

7282.

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:

(a) “Conviction” shall have the same meaning as subdivision (d) of Section 667 of the Penal Code.

(b) “Eligible for release from custody” means that the individual may be released from custody because one of the following conditions has occurred:

(1) All criminal charges against the individual have been dropped or dismissed.

(2) The individual has been acquitted of all criminal charges filed against him or her.

(3) The individual has served all the time required for his or her sentence.

(4) The individual has posted a bond.

(5) The individual is otherwise eligible for release under state or local law, or local policy.

(c) “Immigration hold” means an immigration detainer issued by an authorized immigration officer, pursuant to Section 287.7 of Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations, that requests that the law enforcement official to maintain custody of the individual for a period not to exceed 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, and to advise the authorized immigration officer prior to the release of that individual.

(d) “Law enforcement official” means any local agency or officer of a local agency authorized to enforce criminal statutes, regulations, or local ordinances or to operate jails or to maintain custody of individuals in jails, and any person or local agency authorized to operate juvenile detention facilities or to maintain custody of individuals in juvenile detention facilities.

(e) “Local agency” means any city, county, city and county, special district, or other political subdivision of the state.

(f) “Serious felony” means any of the offenses listed in subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7 of the Penal Code and any offense committed in another state which, if committed in California, would be punishable as a serious felony as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7 of the Penal Code.

(g) “Violent felony” means any of the offenses listed in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 of the Penal Code and any offense committed in another state which, if committed in California, would be punishable as a violent felony as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 of the Penal Code.

7282.5.

(a) A law enforcement official shall have discretion to cooperate with federal immigration officials by detaining an individual on the basis of an immigration hold after that individual becomes eligible for release from custody only if the continued detention of the individual on the basis of the immigration hold would not violate any federal, state, or local law, or any local policy, and only under any of the following circumstances:

(1) The individual has been convicted of a serious or violent felony identified in subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7 of, or subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 of, the Penal Code.

(2) The individual has been convicted of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.

(3) The individual has been convicted within the past five years of a misdemeanor for a crime that is punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony for, or has been convicted at any time of a felony for, any of the following offenses:

(AD) Kidnapping, as specified in, but not limited to, Sections 207, 209, and 209.5 of the Penal Code.

(AE) A violation of subdivision (c) of Section 20001 of the Vehicle Code.

(4) The individual is a current registrant on the California Sex and Arson Registry.

(5) The individual is arrested and taken before a magistrate on a charge involving a serious or violent felony, as identified in subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7 or subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 of the Penal Code, a felony punishable by imprisonment in state prison, or any felony listed in paragraph (2) or (3) other than domestic violence, and the magistrate makes a finding of probable cause as to that charge pursuant to Section 872 of the Penal Code.

(6) The individual has been convicted of a federal crime that meets the definition of an aggravated felony as set forth in subparagraphs (A) to (P), inclusive, of paragraph (43) of subsection (a) of Section 101 of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101), or is identified by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the subject of an outstanding federal felony arrest warrant.

(b) If none of the conditions listed in subdivision (a) is satisfied, an individual shall not be detained on the basis of an immigration hold after the individual becomes eligible for release from custody.

SEC. 3.

The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.